EMBATTLED Rishi Sunak today said he is "deeply sorry" for the lives lost during Covid as he kicked off an eight-hour grilling on the pandemic.
The under-fire Prime Minister began his testimony at the Covid inquiry highlighting the importance of learning the lessons "so that we can be better prepared in the future".
Throughout the day, the PM will face allegations his Eat Out to Help Out scheme boosted the spread of coronavirus.
The Government-backed scheme offered discounted meals at restaurants to boost the hospitality industry after the lockdowns.
He will also be asked awkward questions over text messages that revealed government scientists referred to him as “Dr Death, the Chancellor”.
After taking the oath on Monday morning, the PM said: "I just wanted to start by saying how deeply sorry I am to all of those who lost loved ones, family members, through the pandemic, and also all those who suffered in various different ways throughout the pandemic and as a result of the actions that were taken.
"I've thought a lot about this over the past couple of years. It's important that we learn the lessons so that we can be better prepared in the future. It's in that spirit and with enormous respect for all of those who are affected that I'm here today.
"I look forward to giving evidence in the spirit of constructive candour to help the inquiry with its deliberations."
The interrogation kicks off a bombshell week for Mr Sunak, as he also faces a do-or-die vote on his Rwanda plan on Tuesday.
While he is questioned by Hugo Keith KC, five groups of Tory MPs will listen to the verdict of the veteran Conservative MP Sir Bill Cash's so-called star chamber of lawyers that have assessed the proposed legislation on Rwanda.
After providing his apology to the inquiry, Mr Sunak was asked why he had not given the inquiry access to his WhatsApp messages from around the time of the pandemic.
The PM said it was because he had changed his phone “multiple times over the last few years” and that he was “not a prolific user” of WhatsApp.
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He also denied he had described there being a “clash” between public health and the economy while dealing with the virus.
As Chancellor, he said he wanted to ensure then Prime Minister Boris Johnson “had the best possible advice” when it came to understanding the “economic impact or consequences of some of the decisions that he was having to make”.
He added: “It wasn’t – I didn’t ever describe it as – a clash just between public health and economics. I think that is to think about it in far too narrow a way.”
Mr Johnson appointed Mr Sunak as chancellor in February 2020, only a month before the first lockdown was ordered.
Mr Sunak said he did not know Mr Johnson well at the time but that, when handling the pandemic, he “saw the prime minister probably more than I saw my own wife”.
The PM's appearance follows two days of evidence given by Mr Johnson last week, with former health secretary Matt Hancock and Mr Johnson’s former chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, among those to have addressed the hearing.
The Covid-19 inquiry, chaired by Baroness Heather Hallett, is a comprehensive public investigation into the UK's response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its aim is to scrutinise the UK's public health, healthcare, and economic responses to the pandemic, and to learn from these actions for future preparedness.
This includes a wide-ranging examination across several modules, such as government decision-making, healthcare system impacts, and the development of vaccines.
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Speaking to Sky News this morning, Cabinet ally Grant Shapps defended the PM's response during the pandemic.
The Defence Secretary told Sky news: "Rishi Sunak, who came forward and saved millions of jobs and millions of businesses through his Covid response is actually due a lot of credit.
"Millions of businesses would have gone bust, millions of people would have been out of work if it hadn't been for his furlough scheme and schemes like Eat Out to Help Out,it's so easy to look back on things and say, oh, what you should have done is this…
"Butthese were difficult decisions that were being made to stop businesses from going bust. And that in itself would have been a real problem
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